So Wade Phillips wants to be a head coach? Good for him

I’d hire him before I would hire the so-called “hottest” coaching candidate on the market.

“I don’t like to toot my own horn,” Phillips said after practice Thursday. “I’ve got a good record. I think I should be considered. I guess people may have taken it the wrong way that I ought to be a head coach. I don’t believe that. I think I should be considered.”

You darn right he should be getting consideration from teams that are looking for a head coach. I’ll toot his horn if he won’t.

I understand Texans fans’ angst over the possibility of losing Phillips. He is one heck of a defensive coordinator and responsible for the Texans’ spectacular turnaround from terrible to downright good.

What I don’t understand is how a misconception has become reality in the view of his record as a head coach.

As that is the case, I understand why Phillips would want to get back into the head coaching business: he wants one more chance to set the record straight.

Some guy on this blog recently (and you hear this nationally all the time) lumped Phillips into a category with Norv Turner, as a great coordinator, but a lousy head coach. That is not even close to the truth.

Phillips is 21 games above .500 as a head coach (82-61), while Turner is six games under .500 (107-113-1). HUGE difference.

In seven of Turner’s 14 seasons as a head coach, his team finished .500 or worse. That has happened to Phillips only three times in the nine seasons that he began the year as a team’s head coach, and one of those was the 1-7 start in Dallas a year ago. Other than that, his worst record is 7-9.

Then there is the curious case Jeff Fisher, the hot one I alluded to above. Fisher, as I have told you before, is one of the most overrated head coaches in NFL history.

He is being ferried around in private helicopters and jets from Miami to St. Louis, as teams beg for his services. I even spent several minutes on an Indianapolis radio show discussing him as fans there seem to be clamoring for his very averageness.

Fisher’s claim to fame was he was the dean of NFL coaches when he finally sent packing from Tennessee after last season.

My theory is his media pals just started calling him one of the league’s best simply because he had been around so long that he must be good.

Why he got so much credit for working for an owner who was too cheap to fire him and try to hire a better coach, is beyond me.

Fisher is only 22 games above .500, with 16 full seasons as the Oilers/Titans head coach. His winning percentage (.542) is well below Phillips’ winning percentage (.573). And he had whopping 10 seasons of .500 or worse ball. That’s 10 out of 16, people.

Every time Phillips got anywhere near .500, he got fired.

Fisher’s teams made the playoffs only five times in his 16 years, while Phillips’ squads made the playoffs five times in only nine seasons.

Fisher did make a run to the Super Bowl, we’ll pat him on the back for that Music City Miracle. But that was so last century. In this century he is 2-5 in the playoffs, while Phillips is only 1-2 in the postseason in four-plus years as a head coach in the 2000s.

Phillips twice won 10 games, actually one season it was 11 games, with Doug Flutie starting at quarterback. Now, I love me some Doug Flutie, but that is one hell of a coaching accomplishment.

Yet Fisher is getting all this love and Phillips can’t get a sniff as a head coach? Please.

11 Responses

JS, it seems the teams that have already fired their coach have no interest in Phillips. This doesn’t surprise me but I won’t get into that. What other teams out there might still fire their HC before next season and might have an interest in going after him?

Well….you certainly can’t argue against figures, and I know that Wade can be a good head coach. Wade had a problem in Dallas, but it was almost an impossible task, because of that crazy owner trying to run the show. But….I also suggest that you may be down on Fisher because he knew that Vince Young had a problem in the brain department and not very smart. Good runner but poor thinker, and I guess he really did fail that test. Fisher was tired of putting up with that, the owner and the circus.

JS in my opinion there are very few head coaches that are difference makers, Belichick comes to mind and then the list gets pretty short. The Harbaugh’s seem to be but time will tell. The fact is some coaches are exceptional coordinators of offense/defense which obviously Wade is and I understand him wanting to run the whole show and he’s been an adequate head coach, but a true difference maker, with his personality I just don’t see it. I couldn’t agree more with your opinion on Fisher, way over rated!

All I can say is, I hope Fisher gets hired & takes away one of those job openings for Field Marshall Phillips. The Texans need to do WHATEVER it takes to keep him, including giving him Head Coach if they have to. I like Kubiak but we all know the turnaround was due to Phillips & the Peytons demise. Altho,we do know we CAN beat the Colts even if he was playing. We have at least done it twice. I know,Orlovsky! But think of this team with Phillips as D=coordinator a couple more yrs & these guys keep drafting good players,how dominate that D can become. I am talking about one of the best EVER type of D! More free agents willing to come play here,guys WANTING to come to Houston. Just my 2 cents!

in your comparison of Phillips and Fisher, you forgot one important thing:
Fisher is much younger and healthier.
My angst as a Texan fan is the fact that here we are in Phillips first year with the Texans, on the eve of playoffs, and he’s talking about his desire to leave and be a head coach somewhere else!
If Wade wants to be fair to his “hometown” he should stay here couple years, focus on the playoffs, then make a fuss about headcoaching somewhere else.
I hope, selfishly, that he doesn’t get it until at least end of next year.

i think wade gets a “bum” wrap (no pun intended) because he isnt a rah rah guy .. like a jeff fisher,rex ryan .. so i think most gms fire him to bring in the next young hot thing.. i.e. jason garret… wades a good coach .. i think hes better then kubiak … just my two cents .. and i have to belive that gary would be happy if wade left to become a head coach somewhere else because there is no doubt gary knows that alot of fans and maybe even some people with the team would rather have wade as the gead coach.. anyways great post as always king you hit the nail on the head on jeff fisher…

Wow, I haven’t seen Wade mentioned to fill any coaching vacancies – sounds like Houston media trying to fill columns & air waves there.
You are forgetting with this slanted column – Wade’s playoff record in the playoffs – 1-4. And his teams regressed every season except for the 2009 Cowboys. We all know how that turned out.
No trophies are given for regular season records.
Jeff Fisher took a team & was inches away from winning a Super Bowl & Norv Turner took a team to an AFC Championship Game (plus was a part of Super Bowl winning teams – also something Wade has never been a part of).

well BOY you have shot yourself in the foot again. Championship is the only goal for owners, and a press that thinks we should be champions because our fans DESERVE IT. It is just a game BOY, and we need to realize it.

I guess contracts or loyalty mean squat. You don’t go on a medical leave for weeks the day after your team makes a wildcard game, letting them lose the bye week. Next it’s just bad taste to go on a job interview just a day before getting ready for the biggest playoff game in Texans history. Sounds to me like he was doing a lot of interviews while on his medical leave also. Job hopping big time if he can’t even serve one full year of a three year deal.